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NORTH ABINGTON TWP. — When Pennsylvania’s gay marriage ban was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court, Desiree Mark of Greenfield Township abandoned her plans to be married in New York or Connecticut and happily focused on planning a wedding in her home state.

When the 29-year-old sent queries to Scranton area wedding venues requesting an appointment, she learned that marriage equality does not mean equality for gays and lesbians.

“Unfortunately, we do not hold same sex marriages at our facility,” read the email from Courtney Killeen, Wedding & Event Planner for Inne at the Abingtons. “I truly do hope you find somewhere that will fulfill all your wedding dreams.”

Met at the North Abington Township venue Thursday, Killeen confirmed the email was authentic and reflected the policy of the Inne, not her personal belief.

“I don’t agree with it,” she said, adding the owner, John O. Antolick, would be unlikely to comment publicly. Antolick did not respond to several requests for an interview.

Gays and lesbians gained the legal right to marry in Pennsylvania this year, but can be blocked from reception venues. With no legal protections for LGBT people in Pennsylvania, any business can refuse to serve someone who is, or perceived to be, lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

That incongruity became apparent with the attention on social media around the Inne at the Abingtons’ refusal to host events for same-sex couples. Across the country, some bakers, photographers, limo services have been making headlines by refusing to work same-sex nuptials.

Mark and her partner, a school teacher in North Carolina, shrugged the snub off. Mark mentioned it in passing when updating her mother, Francine Adams of Greenfield Township, on the wedding planning.

Adams was incredulous.

“What do they mean?” she asked. “This is discrimination. It’s not right.”

She mentioned the incident on her Facebook page. When people called it a hoax, she posted a copy of the email, which was shared hundreds of times and reproduced on some blogs, setting off a social media firestorm. Adams said she feels encouraged by the response on Facebook, which has been overwhelmingly supportive of her and her daughter, who are visiting other venues and hoping to secure a date for next summer or fall.

None of this was news to John Dawe, executive director of the NEPA Rainbow Alliance. He has heard from couples turned away by the Inne at the Abingtons many times before. They start out angry about being rebuffed, however politely. Then they grow frustrated when they learn that denial of service for LGBT people is legal in Pennsylvania.

“They think there is no way this — a business saying ‘no gay people here’ — can be legal,” Dawe said. “They want to sue and make a point.”

The Rainbow Alliance refers the couples to other venues where their business will be welcomed. Rather than pickets, protests and boycotts, Dawe’s group and other LGBT advocacy groups look toward politics.

Their focus is on House and Senate Bill 300, which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in employment, housing and public accommodations.

“This is the same discrimination we have fought for decades and the purpose of this legislation is to prevent it,” said state Rep. Sid Michaels Kavulich, D-114th, who is a cosponsor of the legislation. “Chances are better we will see action on this because of the court decisions, the number of cosponsors and growing public support.”

Although other venues happily accommodate same-sex weddings, such discrimination is still damaging, said Lavana Layendecker spokeswoman for Equality Pennsylvania, a Harrisburg-based LGBT lobbying group. “We wouldn’t tell a person of color to just go eat somewhere else, or tell a woman to just apply for some other job.

“Denying people housing, employing or accommodation is fundamentally wrong and fundamentally un-American,” she said.

Molly Tack-Hooper, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, called the Inne at the Abingtons’ email “the most polite example of anti-gay discrimination I’ve ever seen” and also completely legal under current state law.

Pennsylvania is the only state where same-sex couples enjoy marriage equality without basic civil rights.

So far, 34 municipalities in Pennsylvania passed ordinances that prohibit discrimination against LGBT citizens. Locally, these include cities of Scranton and Pittston.

Lisa Stanvitch of Scranton said she and her partner were turned down by the Inne at the Abingtons in 2007, when they wanted to have a commitment ceremony.

“They could have just called it two women having a party,” she said. “Instead, we got an email saying they were afraid of backlash from churches and the community. When I heard about this latest one, I was like ‘Still? Are you kidding me?’”

dfalchek@timesshamrock.com

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